Industrial Coffee Table – A Quick and Easy DIY

This industrial coffee table build was easy and I love the way it turned out!

My industrial Coffee Table is one of my favorite builds ever. We were in desperate need of a coffee table for our rustic industrial living room. For a while now I had been thinking of making a coffee table with wheels because I’m always pulling it right up next to the couch to work or eat on when I’m home alone. After a quick little search, I saw this table over at Shanty2Chic and I loved it!If you are looking to make this, first head over to Rogue Engineer and get the plans HERE.

I decided to use 2×4 for the top boards, mainly because I had a bunch of 2x4s. I laid them out and connected them with a whole bunch of pocket screws and wood glue. This is the moment I sat in glue and glued my pants to my leg. If you are following this tutorial, I wouldn’t do that part.

Then I added the sides and had to figure out how to make it a little taller. I needed about 3 1/2 more inches so I decided to cut up a 4×4 and add them to the braces underneath. I made four equal sized cuts, one for each “leg”. I attached the 4×4 pieces to the braces like so…

Then I attached the braces to the top of the table. Everything so far is held together by pocket holes and wood glue.

Time to stain. I don’t really have a technique, I just sort of played with layering all the stains I already had sitting around. I did start with a light coat of Minwax Special Walnut. I like this color for a base. It tones down the yellow and added a greyish (almost blue) tone. Then I just started layering (letting it dry in between coats) until it looked like this.

Then I added our initials to the side

I just grabbed a big pack of stencil stickers from Walmart, close to the poster boards and school supplies. I liked that they were stickers, because I could place them where I wanted and move them around as needed. Then I just traced them with a sharpie and removed the stickers and colored them in. I like the sharpie because when you put it on stained wood, you can make it bleed a little by just using a paper towel and a little elbow grease.

Now it was time to distress and tone it all down a bit. I used my friend Kim’s, over at Knock it Off Crafts, super technical technique of hammering, scraping and hitting things until it looked a little more weathered. Here is my super handsome little helper, back again.

We scratched the letters up pretty good so that are barely noticeable. I scratched and painted the top some more as well and ended up with this. Now it’s really starting to look like the industrial coffee table I was going for.

Which I decided was good, so then I flipped it over and stained the bottom. I didn’t do any of the distressing of colors or hammering it out on the bottom. For the sides and bottom, I just used three coats of the special walnut and finished with one coat of the Minwax Jacobean.

Then I added three coats of Polyurethane to the whole thing. I went with a gloss, but am wishing it was satin now. I might sand it out and put a coat of satin on, but I’ll probably just move on to the next project :).

Now the super fun part – the Casters!

They. Are. Beautiful. I was so excited when I pulled them out of the box. So fun.

The only problem was my measurements were off. I had looked online for the dimensions of the base plate, but somehow messed them up, so the didn’t quite fit on my 4x4s. 🙁

So, I had to add a piece of wood to the sides. I just used glue and wood screws.

I did have to stain that little piece of wood to match, but that was okay, because I also had to spray paint all the hardware.

I used the Rusteloum primer, followed by 3 LIGHT coats of their Oil Rubbed Bronze metallic spray paint. I was a little worried about painting the wheels, but they did great and it didn’t effect the way the wheels roll at all. The wheels are really cool, I ordered the swivel ones and they roll so nicely. I was also a little concerned about the painted wheels rolling around on my white rug, so I added a couple of coats of Rustoleum protective enamel.

Once everything was dry, I attached everything using self drilling hex screws (which was a work out). I added the little corner braces like the girls over at Shanty2Chic did. They don’t have a function but do look cool :).

Then, when everything was done I took this one final pic before getting the hubby and hauling it in.

The table is so wonderful. I love the color variation and the stencils on the side.. I just love how you personalize everything! You really should do a detailed tutorial on how to make the pocket holes.. I have a jig and have NO idea how to use it! That is honestly what prevents me from building stuff in any kind of serious way.

OH my, yes! The jig is the best thing ever once you learn to use it. It makes everything so much more solid and strong. I have some links I’ll send you on how to use one. Just start playing, you’ll make some mistakes and throw some boards, but you’ll figure it out. It’s really very easy.

This is beautiful! I love this, I have major coffee table envy. You are so talented! Your little eager helper is so cute. My kids would be all over that if they got to knick and hit things. Your living room is awesome, love that shelf you made.

Your table came out Amazing! You would never even know that you had added the wood at the bottom. I always feel all my projects that have little hiccups usually turn out better than planned anyway. You seriously did an awesome job on this table and those casters are perfect!

This came out very nice! Very rustic looking and I bet the kids love it too! One question: How high did the whole table actually end up being after raising it with the 4×4 blocks of wood, like from the floor to the very top?

Oh, I’d love to see it when you are done!! I didn’t use a wood conditioner for this one, but I have in the past and I do recommend it. I did 3 coats of polyurethane in a gloss with a light sand between each one. Have fun :)!

Hi Tina! So sorry it took so long to get back to you. Here is the link to the casters, it’s still linking on my end but for some reason the text color is the same. I’ll look into it, thanks for letting me know! https://amzn.to/2XlfNM0

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